Booth seat



March 2, 1965 c. L. HERSHBERGER EI'AL 1 3,171,635

BOOTH SEAT Filed Oct. 4, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l rays.

INVENTORS. Char/es A. flershberger' BY Edmund M A/ess March 1965 c. L.HERSHBERGER EFAL 3,171,635

BOOTH SEAT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 4, 1963 rger INVENTORS. Char/e3L. fier'shbe BY Edmund V. Ness United States Patent 3,171,685 BOOTH SEATCharles L. Hershherger, Joplin, Mo., and Edmund V.

Ness, Baxter Springs, Kans., assignors to H & H Manufacturing Company,Inc., Joplin, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Oct. 4, 1963, Ser.No. 313,950 7 Claims. (Cl. 297-92) This invention relates toimprovements in chair or booth construction and, more specifically, toapparatus for providing convenient interchangeability of the seat andback of a chair, booth, or the like.

Particularly in the bar and restaurant business, the chairs and boothsused to seat customers are subject to a great deal of abuse. Manifestly,the seats of such furniture wear out faster than the backs thereof. Itis evident, therefore, that a considerable increase in the usable lifeof bar and restaurant furniture could be realized if the seats and backsthereof were conveniently and rapidly interchangeable.

It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide chairor booth structure wherein the seats and backs thereof areinterchangeable.

Another important object of this invention is to provide chair or boothstructure wherein the seats and backs thereof are releasably locked orcoupled with the frame of the structure by apparatus operable inresponse to the mere placing of the seat or back on its appropriateportion of the frame.

Still another object of this invention is to provide releasable lockingapparatus as aforesaid that will render the seat and back of the chairor booth structure interchangeable.

Yet another important object of this invention is to provide apparatusfor releasably securing an occupant support, such as a seat or back, tothe seat portion or back portion of a chair or booth frame, whichapparatus is operable in response to engagement therewith of a couplingcomponent on the occupant support to thereby provide a means of rapidlysecuring the support to the frame without the use of tools or thenecessity of timeconsuming adjustments.

Other objects will become apparent as the detailed description proceeds.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a bar or restaurant boothconstructed in accordance with the teachings of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the single-back booth seat or chairshown in FIG. 1, parts being broken away to reveal details ofconstruction;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the single-back booth seat;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the single-back booth seat showingthe occupant-supporting seat portion thereof in elevation duringinstallation thereof on the booth frame;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, detailed view looking into the hook-receivingchannel of the locking device;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, detailed view partly in section and partly inelevation showing the hook and latch element disengaged;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the hook and latch element intheir engaged, interlocked positions; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, detailed, elevational view showing a pair ofjuxtaposed locking devices for use with the double-back booth shown inFIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, the numeral 10 broadly designates booth structureincorporating the instant invention. Booth 10 includes a table 12, asingle back booth 3,171,685 Patented Mar. 2, 1965 seat or chair 14, anda double-back seat or chair 16. Booth seat 14 is employed at the end ofa series of booths, while booth seat 16 is used between adjacent booths.

In FIGS. 24 the construction of the single booth seat 14 is shown indetail. It should be understood at this juncture that conversion from asingle booth seat to a double booth seat is achieved essentially byarranging single seats in back-to-back relationship; therefore, only theconstructional details of the single booth seat will be set forthhereinafter.

Booth seat 14 comprises a rectangular back frame 18 rigid with agenerally rectangular seat frame 20. Seat frame 20 is provided with fourlegs 22. Frame 20 includes a pair of side skirts 24 which define theside margins of the seat portion of the structure. Decorative sidemoldings 26 are mounted on each side of the back frame 18.

The back frame 18 and the seat frame 20 are interconnected by atransversely L-sh-aped cross member 28. A seat 36 is mounted on frame 20in abutting relationship to a ledge 32 presented by cross member 28. Aback 34 is mounted on frame 18 in abutting relationship to the upperedge 36 of cross member 28. Seat 30 and back 34 are of identicalconstruction.

Seat 30 comp-rises a framework 38 which mounts thereon a cushion 40 ofany suitable construction. The cushion illustrated in the drawings iscomposed of foam rubber backed by a plurality of leaf spring strips 42.Manifestly, cushion 46 may be covered or upholstered to provide thedesired aesthetic effect.

Back 34 is similarly constructed and includes a foam rubber cushion 44and a plurality of leaf spring strips 46 mounted on a framework 48. Boththe seat 30 and the back 34 are provided with a pair of couplingcomponents or books 50 rigid with respective frames 38 or 43 and a pairof frame extensions 52. Also, both the seat and back are provided with apair of wedge-shaped guides 54 which normally extend downwardly from theside margins of seat 30 and laterally outwardly from the side margins ofback 34.

Referring now particularly to FIGS. 58, it may be seen that hook 50comprises a metal plate 56 having a slot 58 therein and provided with alip 60 at the mouth of the slot. A locking device 62 for use inconjunction with hook 50 is shown comprising a transversely U-shapedchannel 64 which receives an elongated latch element 66. Element 66 isformed by a pair of parallel legs 67 interconnected intermediate theends thereof by a web 68. A roller 70 is journaled and spans thedistance between the legs 67 at one end thereof. A pair of pins 72pivotally mount element 66 within channel 64.

A spring 74 has one end thereof secured to channel 64, the other end ofthe spring being interconnected with web 68. It may be seen by comparingFIGS. 6 and 7 that element 66 and spring 74 form an over-center togglemechanism, element 66 being normally biased by spring 74 into theinoperative position shown in FIG. 6. However, as evidenced by FIG. 7,engagement of hook 50 with element 66 moves the latter into itsoperative position wherein the hook and element are releasablyinterlocked under the action of spring 74.

FIGS. 2-4 reveal the locations of devices 62 on back frame 18 and seatframe 29. It may be seen that the devices 62 are rigidly secured to theseat and back frames in disposition to receive respective hooks 50 tothereby releasably lock either the seat 30 or back 34 to frame 18 orframe 20. In other words, seat 30 and back 34 may be interchanged, theseat becoming the back and the back then becoming the seat, to thusachieve the primary object of the invention.

In the utilization of the structure, it should be understood that themere positioning of the seat or back on the desired portion of the framealong with manual pressure, causes the seat or back to be secured inplace. Frame extensions 52 along with guides 54 assist in positioningthe seat or back on either the back frame 18 or the seat frame 20. Oncehooks 50 are aligned With corresponding devices 62, the action of lip 60of the hook, as the same engages roller 70 of the device, etfectsswinging movement of element 66 with application of manual pressure.Roller 70 is thereby forced into slot 58 and, upon continued swinging ofelement 66, spring 74 moves over center and biases the element and hooktoward the interlocked disposition shown in FIG. 7. In this manner theseat or back is releasably but securely maintained in place untilsubsequent interchanging thereof is desired, whereupon movement of hook50 away from device 62 under sufficient force to overcome the action ofspring 74 disengages the hook from the element.

It should be noted that, since FIG. 2 shows the single seat booth, aspacer block 76 is disposed between the left-hand device 62 and backframe 18. The necessity of utilizing spacer block 76 will be appreciatedby reference to FIG. 8 wherein juxtaposed, oppositely facing devices 62are shown for use with the double seat booth 16. The FIG. 8 arrangementis provided so that backs 34 of the various booths may also beinterchanged. Thus, it is evident that spacer block 76 is employed inthe single seat version since only one. back 34 is employed. Having thusdescribed the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a chair or the like: an occupant support member provided with acoupling component; a frame having a seat portion and a back portion;and a mechanical locking device on each of said portions respectively,each of said devices having a shiftable element movable from aninoperative position to a disposition in interlocking relationship withsaid coupling component in response to engagement by the latter, wherebythe member may be secured to the seat portion or the back portion of theframe, alternatively. 2. In a chair or the like: a frame having a seatportion and a back portion; a pair of occupant support members; and apair of couplers each having first and second engageable components,each of said couplers being operable to releasably interlock its firstcomponent with any one of said second components upon engagementtherewith the first component of each of the couplers being attached toa different one of said portions of the frame, the second component ofeach coupler being attached to a corresponding member, each of saidcouple-rs including means mounting one of the components thereof formovement from an un- 4 coupled position to a disposition in interlockingrelationship with any one of the other components of the devices inresponse to said engagement, whereby the members may be interchangeablysecured to the seat and back portions of the frame.

3. The invention of claim 3, wherein each of said couplers includesyieldable means operably coupled with said one component thereof forbiasing the latter toward said interlocking disposition during saidmovement of the one component.

4. Apparatus for releasably securing an occupant support to the seatportion or back portion of a chair frame or the like comprising:

a hook adapted to be mounted on said occupant support;

a latch element for engagement by said hook;

means for shiftably attaching the latch element to one of saidportionsof the frame, said element being movable by the hook from aninoperative position to a disposition in interlocking relationshiptherewith upon engagement of the element by the hook; and yieldablemeans operably coupled with said element for biasing the latter towardsaid interlocking disposition during said movement of the element by thehook, whereby to releasably secure the occupant support to the seat orback portion of the frame.

5. The invention of claim 4, wherein said yieldable means normallybiases the element toward said inoperative position, said movement ofthe element by the hook being initially against the action of theyieldable means, the latter shifting in response to said movement to aposition biasing the element toward said interlocking dis position.

6. The invention of claim 4, wherein said attaching means is adapted topivotally mount the element on said one portion of the frame, saidelement swinging from said inoperative position to said interlockingdisposition in response to pressure contact by the hook.

7. The invention of claim '6, wherein said element is elongated andprovided with a laterally extending part at one end thereof, saidattaching means being adapted to pivotally mount the element at a pointthereon spaced from said one end, the hook receiving said part when theelement is in said interlocking disposition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

1. IN A CHAIR OR THE LIKE: AN OCCUPANT SUPPORT MEMBER PROVIDED WITH ACOUPLING COMPONENT; A FRAME HAVING A SEAT PORTION AND A BACK PORTION;AND A MECHANICAL LOCKING DEVICE ON EACH OF SAID PORTIONS RESPECTIVELY,EACH OF SAID DEVICES HAVING A SHIFTABLE ELEMENT MOVABLE FROM ANINOPERATIVE POSITION TO A DISPOSITION IN INTERLOCKING RELATIONSHIP WITHSAID COUPLING COMPONENT IN RESPONSE TO ENGAGEMENT BY THE LATTER, WHEREBYTHE MEMBER MAY BE SECURED TO THE SEAT PORTION OR THE BACK PORTION OF THEFRAME, ALTERNATIVELY.